The present invention relates to a steam boiler which uses electrolysis to convert water to high pressure steam.
Steam boilers are well known in the prior art. For years they have been operated by petroleum fuels such as kerosene, light oils, and natural gases. Wood and coal are other sources of fuel for steam boilers. Environmentally, it is destructive to continue to burn petroleum fuels other than natural gas, since they pollute the atmosphere. The use of coal puts sulfur and other compounds into the atmosphere. In addition, it is wasteful to use wood and petroleum as fuels, as there are many more useful products that these products can be used to produce, such as plastics, wooden articles, and the like.
Prior art known to applicant is as follows; U.S. Pat. Nos. 583,104 issued to WATTLES, 2,365,330 issued to CARMICHAEL, 2,496,632 issued to FRAGALES, 3,648,668 issued to PACHECO, 4,009,006 issued to HREKA, 4,023,545 issued to MOSHER.
In general, these patents disclose separating hydrogen and oxygen from water by electrolysis and pumping the gases into an internal combustion engine where the gases are compressed and ignited. An electrical spark ignites the hydrogen and oxygen gases to operate the engine.
The present invention does not operate an internal combustion engine, it does drive steam engines, turbines and similar steam operated equipment. The electrolysis of water is similar to the copending application Ser. No. 07/854,079 filed Mar. 19, 1992 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,196,104 however there are distinct differences which will be brought out in the drawings, description and claims.